If you don’t see them, you hear them. On any July Fourth or New Year’s Eve, it’s common to experience the loud pop of a firework or see it colorfully explode into the sky and hang there briefly. Pyrotechnic amusements from sparklers to Roman candles have long been a staple of celebrations in the U.
S. and beyond, helping to mark national holidays, sporting events and more. “They have become a global phenomenon, and they have become almost, if you like, the accepted way in which big events are celebrated,” said John Withington, author of the upcoming book, A History of Fireworks from Their Origins to the Present Day .
But the elaborate, computer-controlled displays of contemporary fireworks shows are a long way from the medium’s simpler beginnings in ancient China. Fireworks began in ancient China before spreading West The thinking goes that someone living in China around the first century B.C.
threw a piece of bamboo on a fire and it exploded with a bang. Bamboo stalks contain air pockets that can expand and blow up in extreme heat. According to Withington, Chinese travelers would carry bamboo on journeys in case they needed to create a loud noise to scare away wild animals.
The next major development came around the ninth century , when gunpowder was invented. Chinese fabricators loaded up bamboo stalks with gunpowder to create perhaps the world’s first manufactured fireworks, and later began using paper tubes as well, History.com said.
These were deployed to wa.
